When three Greenville women set out in 2006 to start a new philanthropic organization that would allow women to make a significant impact in their community by pooling their resources, they had no idea where this journey would lead. Try this: Just a little over a week ago Greenville Women Giving handed out checks for almost a half-million dollars to eight local organizations. The journey really has just begun, and the potential for this group is enormous.

In its seventh year of existence, this organization has given more than $2.64 million back to the Greenville community. In doing so, this group that now has 400 members has allowed women to discover the power that comes from joining together and collectively making a difference.

Greenville Women Giving is a success story by any measure. It was just getting started when the bottom fell out of the nation's economy, and while many nonprofit organizations have seen their bottom lines shrink, GWG keeps growing. It started because of an idea that kept nagging one woman, and her dream was fulfilled because of the support of the Greenville Community Foundation, the energy and leadership of three key women, and the power of an idea that was right for its time.

The idea started with Harriett Goldsmith, one of the three co-chairs of Greenville Women Giving since its inception, said Frances Ellison, another of those co-chairs along with Sue Priester. "This whole thing was Harriett's idea in the first place," Ellison said in a recent interview. "She spearheaded efforts to grow the group and has been a major ingredient of any effort to hold us together."

Goldsmith was given the title of chair emerita after asking to step down as one of the three co-chairs. Janet Sumner will take her place in the leadership group that still includes Ellison and Priester. "We had no idea (when starting GWG) that this would become a community institution and need leadership development, Ellison said. A sign of its amazing success is that it does need a plan for the future and for leadership transitions.

The seed for Greenville Women Giving was planted in Goldsmith's mind about 15 years ago after she read a story about a similar group in Seattle. The women in the story had decided to pool their money together and "decide how best to put money to work in the community," Goldsmith said in a videotaped interview on the group's website: www.greenvillewomengiving.org.

Reading the article produced sort of an "Aha!" moment, as Goldsmith described it. "I knew then what I could do with a group of people. I could truly make a difference I couldn't make alone." She filed the article away, and would pull it out from time to time. But she couldn't figure out how to make the idea work.

She then brought the idea to Bob Morris, president of the Community Foundation of Greenville, after she had started serving on that group's board of directors. Morris told her that Greenville was ready for the idea, and he brought Ellison and Priester into the planning process. The Community Foundation offered a $50,000 match from the Jean Harris Knight Fund if the women could gain 50 members and raise $50,000. In that first year, they had more than a hundred women participate, and Greenville Women Giving was off and running.

To join, a woman has to pledge $1,000 a year for three years, and all of that is awarded to local charities selected by the group's membership. Another $100 a year is given to cover administrative costs.

The women in the group research the needs in the community and study applications of local charities wanting to address those needs. Then the entire membership gets to vote on the grant applications.

"I think people, men and women, who are giving away money like to think they are making a difference," Ellison said. People may not think they're making a difference by giving $50 but "when you do it collectively you do make a difference."

Greenville Women Giving is making a noticeable difference in our community. And this group of women is just getting started.